Flow injection extraction chromatography with ICP-MS for thorium and uranium determination in human body fluids

Tolmachyov, S.; Kuwabara, Jun* ; Noguchi, Hiroshi

A method based on flow injection extraction chromatography coupled with on-line ICP-MS (FI-EC-ICPMS) for simultaneous thorium and uranium determination in human body fluids (urine and blood) has been developed and validated. By using extraction chromatography, the limits of detection for Th, U and U were achieved 0.06 ng l, 0.0014 ng l and 0.05 ng l, respectively. The FI-EC-ICPMS method accuracy was 102.4% and 101.5% with overall precision (RSDmax at 95% CI) of 5.3% and 4.9% for Th and U, respectively. The U/U atom ratio is measured with 1.8% precision. The technique was employed for simultaneous thorium and uranium analyses in human urine and blood samples after microwave digestion.